


Visiting Exam

by mademoisellePlume, Vinnocent



Series: Teen Titans: Morph! [3]
Category: Animorphs - Katherine A. Applegate, DCU, Teen Titans (Animated Series)
Genre: Blood and Gore, Book 2: The Visitor, Episode: s01e03 Final Exam, Ethics, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-22
Updated: 2014-04-22
Packaged: 2018-01-20 10:23:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,789
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1507043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mademoisellePlume/pseuds/mademoisellePlume, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vinnocent/pseuds/Vinnocent
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Titans are trying to learn more about the Andalites on earth when a new enemy catches them by surprise! Based on "Final Exam" and "The Visitor."</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Special thanks to mademoisellePlume for helping design the new hero identities! :D

"Um, so," Starfire tried again uncertainly, "have you been on any other-world miss--?"

"But the group is just so great!" Supergirl continued happily. "It's just so nice to feel normal! You should really come on!"

<How many times is that in which she has refused to change the subject?> Phyzzon fussed grumpily in the back of Starfire's mind.

"I do not really enjoy the hanging out with most humans," Starfire admitted to her friend. She rubbed her arms nervously.

<Seventeen times. She has reversed changes of subject seventeen times.>

"Awe, why is that?" asked Supergirl.

<That is not how Supergirl talks. I am looking through your memories right now, and I can see that.>

Starfire fidgeted. She didn't really want to have this conversation. "They… They like to stare," she said quietly.

<She is a Controller. I can tell. I am an expert.>

"Awe, but my friends are different!" she swore. "Come on, you'll see!"

<She did _not_ just say her friends are different, > Phyzzon groaned. <So very different. Instead of making you feel bad, they will crawl in your head and ruin your life and make you feel bad.>

<Phyzzon, that is what you did,> Starfire reminded him gently.

<I did not ruin your life!> he objected. <… Right? Or make you feel bad?>

Starfire smiled. <No, not those parts. I meant the sharing of a brain.>

<Well… Okay, but you let me,> he insisted. <That is different.>

<I believe she is attempting to recruit me. That would be voluntary.>

<Starfire, I do not think-- SHE STOPPED TALKING! PAY ATTENTION!>

Supergirl was watching her quizzically. "Um, hello? Star?"

Starfire blinked at the screen. "Oh, I'm sorry, Supergirl. I, uh, I just heard the others… yelling about… something." She smiled widely. "It was so good talking to you again, and we definitely need to catch up more often, but I must go see my friends now."

"Okay, but you'll consider the Shar--?" Supergirl was cut off when Starfire cut the signal.

She sagged in the chair. "I do not know what to do, Phyzzon. I feel trapped. My friends are the only ones who can fight the Yeerks, but how do we do this? There is so much at risk. We could be stopped so easily."

<We could fly away,> Phyzzon suggested.

Starfire was horrified. "No! This is my home!"

Phyzzon shrugged her shoulders. <Then,> he said, <I guess we find a way.>

Starfire thought about that. She went over to the elevator and descended to the quarters. She walked along the hall until she came to the door she wanted. She knocked. Robin opened the door. "Starfire?"

"I am distressed about our circumstances," she admitted. "I would like to know how we are going to find a way to do something about the Yeerk invasion."

He nodded. "I've been thinking about that," he said going back into his room for a moment.

"I know," she said brightly.

Robin hesitated. "You do?" he called back.

"Of course!" she said. "That is what you do. You think about things very much! And you keep thinking about them until you have thought of something new, and by this thinking you find ways to beat bad people!"

Robin was smiling when he returned to the door. "I guess that's true. Come on, let's see what the others say."

She looked down at his hands. "You brought a notebook?" she asked.

"For ideas," he said, stepping out and closing the door behind him.

She followed him down into the main room. Raven was attempting to read while Cyborg and Beast Boy fought over the remote. "Hey, guys!" called Robin. "It's time for strategy."

Beast Boy's ears lowered. "Awe, really?"

Robin plopped down on the couch and crossed one leg over the other. "Am I right that we all still want to fight this Yeerk invasion?"

"Of course!" said Cyborg. "That's what heroes do! It's just… Man, a whole invasion of people that have no problem escalating? I don't like saying it, but that's usually when we'd call the Justice League."

"But if Superman's one of them, who else is?" said Beast Boy.

Starfire floated next to Robin and sat down by him, causing him to stiffen momentarily.

"What I have been considering this past week," said Raven, "is the manner in which we left the last scene. At the construction site, the fight had been escalated too far, and I had been injured. But at the school, we backed off the moment we met a Taxxon and fled when there was the possibility of being discovered."

"Taxxons are very scary," said Starfire. "And the Yeerks have heroes who can be sent after us. We don't want to fight our friends!"

"We might have to," Robin pointed out. "But we aren't ready for that just yet."

"All good points, but not what I was speaking to," said Raven. "I _mean_ that if we are not prepared to embrace the risks of fighting Taxxons, then we cannot be involved. If we are not prepared to show ourselves, then we cannot be involved. This is not a fight against criminals. It is a war."

Beast Boy pulled his legs up again and leaned against the bank of windows, looking outside. The silence was so thorough that they could all hear the whirring of Cyborg's machinery.

Robin leaned forward. "Actually," he said, "I've been thinking about that. Yes, heroism means getting involved and being seen. But that's also why many of us have pseudonyms. Wear masks and costumes. People see Robin, not who I was before. They don't go looking for him. They don't hurt people he cares about. This time, it's the Titans that we need to protect. To keep the Yeerks from coming after us where they know they can find us and from using our friends against us."

"You think we should go as ourselves?" asked Beast Boy, sitting up again. "That's not really possible for everyone, Robin."

"No," said Robin. "I mean a double mask. A third identity. We make new heroes to fight them. Heroes that no one knows anything about."

Cyborg frowned. "If that plan was as good as you make it sound, then you'd have opened with that." Robin nodded heavily, and Cyborg continued, "It might work for you. Maybe even Beast Boy if you ignore the fact he's always green. But Star, Raven, and I are all very identifiable by our abilities. Even if she pretends to be Blackfire, they'd still come to _us_."

Robin nodded. "I know. But that's all I've been able to think of so far. That's why I--"

"Actually," said Starfire, leaning forward. "I am not the only person of my shape who is very strong and can fly. Even if my energy powers do not match hers, I can fight well with only those things."

"Supergirl?" Robin guessed, raising an eyebrow.

"You can't just be another real person," said Beast Boy. "Then they'll go after _her_!"

"But she is a Controller," said Starfire. "We recorded the conversation with her earlier, and it can be verified if you like. But if we use the identity of a Controller, then all they will do is switch her controlling Yeerk with someone they think can do the job better."

"What about me and Raven?" said Cyborg. "I can't think of heroes like us, unless you want her to pretend to be Zatanna Zatara."

"I don't have to be seen," said Raven, who was suddenly less visible. She was still there, but it was like they were trying to see her in a dark room, despite the fact that all the lights were still on.

Cyborg sighed. "Which leaves me. I can't pass for anyone but myself. I can't think of anyone else with my abilities. I can't cloak myself in shadow."

"Do you have sniper training?" Phyzzon asked without thinking. Everyone was suddenly staring at Starfire. Robin leaned away slightly.

"What-- What I mean is, um," Starfire struggled. "That maybe you _can_ be cloaked in shadow. Sort of. If you act from a distance, then it will be less clear what sort of weapons are being used against them."

"No, I do not have 'sniper training,'" Cyborg snarled, insulted by the concept. Then, he sighed again. "But I do have long-range sight and targeting capabilities. Some of my weapons can work at a distance. Maybe I can modify others."

Robin nodded. "Then work on that. I'll help put together holograms for Starfire and Beast Boy."

"And you?" asked Raven.

Robin smirked. "My kind of hero isn't entirely rare. I think I can come up with something."

Starfire clapped her hands together. "Then let us engage in eating the celebratory junk foods!" she said, floating up from the couch and flying back toward the kitchen.

Robin smirked, but Cyborg pouted. "I don't want junk food! I want to know where the remote is!" he said, glaring at Beast Boy.

"It's not my fault it disappeared!" he argued.

"I guess nothing is ever your fault!" Cyborg started. "Even when it's caused by you."

"Just get up and change the channel," snapped Raven.

"Don't even joke like that!"

"It wasn't a joke."

"Good! Because it wasn't funny!"

"Guys, can we just--?"

"EEEEEEEK!"

BOOSH!

Suddenly, they were all covered in blue mold and pieces of food. Robin scowled. "Maybe we should go out," he suggested.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic presumes you already know about the plot of "Final Exam," and how the H.A.E.Y.P. kids took over the tower. If you don't... then that is a thing that happened. The specific scene was skipped to try to avoid rehashing canon events.

"Higher," Gizmo instructed his robots as they helped him find the perfect place for his new trophy: Cyborg's right arm. "A little to the left. A little more. A little more! Aaand _perfect_!" He turned to his friends. "Slade's gonna have kittens when he hears we whipped the Titans _and_ took their stinking tower."

"Not to mention Robin's favorite fashion statement," said Jinx, descending the stairs with Raven's cloak thrown over her arm and Robin's belt hanging from her hips. She stopped partway down. "Oh, a kitty! I didn't know they had a kitty!" She picked up the black and white spotted tomcat and frowned. "Somebody has not been a responsible pet owner. Tsk." She wrapped the cat in Raven's cloak and frowned. "It seems the belt is the _only_ thing fashionable around here."

"Tell me about it," Mammoth complained as he pulled a burger covered in blue fuzz from the fridge. "All their food is way out of date!" This did not, however, stop him from eating it.

"Uh, Mammmoth?"

He glanced over the top of the fridge at Jinx, then followed her gaze to the spot of floor to his left. The spot where a large Siberian tiger was sitting patiently. "Another kitty!" he proclaimed, laughing. "Baby Boy come back for another--?"

"That's not Beast Boy," Gizmo interrupted. "It isn't green. According to the comparative images I'm pulling up, it is completely normal in appearance. It's just a tiger."

Jinx squatted on the stairs as though that would give her a better look at it. "I wonder if they have a license for that. We should report them."

"But then _we_ couldn't keep it!" Mammoth complained.

<You should leave.>

Mammoth spun around, looking for the source of the voice. "Who said that?!" he demanded. Gizmo began scanning the area, but Jinx eyed the tiger suspiciously before looking up.

<You should really leave.>

Jinx pointed up at an osprey perched on a light fixture. "A bird, too?" she demanded.

<It isn't safe here.>

"Who is _saying_ that?" Mammoth demanded angrily.

Gizmo shook his head as he spun around, trying to scan all of the room. "I'm not getting anything besides us, the cats, the bird, and--"

A gorilla suddenly dropped down behind him, grabbed his backpack, and crushed it in one massive hand. <Told ya it isn't safe.>

"MY TECH!"

The house cat suddenly hissed and swiped both paws across Jinx's cheeks. "MY FACE!" she shrieked, throwing the cat aside.

The tiger leapt at Mammoth while the bird flew at Jinx. "Oh, no, you don't!" she spat, throwing hexes at it. But it easily dodged. A microwave exploded and a light fell on Gizmo, stunning the poor child.

"MREOW!" the house cat warned behind her, and Jinx immediately spun and fired a huge hex at it. But it dodged gracefully, and Jinx was left staring at the now groaning and leaning computer console the cat had been standing in front of. "Oops," she said, just before the console fell on her.

Mammoth deflected the tiger's blows with his arms, allowing vicious claws to scrape bloody gauges without even flinching. As soon as he saw an opportunity, he delivered a devastating blow to the cat's stomach, sending it across the room.

But the gorilla was already behind him. It wrapped its arms around him and squeezed hard as it lifted him up off the ground. He struggled but he had no leverage. It was getting hard for him to breathe.

The osprey perched on the gorilla's shoulder and leaned forward, its beak uncomfortably close to Mammoth right eye. <I think you should leave,> it said.

Less than a minute later, Mammoth was running out onto the aerial platform with his two friends under each arm, just as the Titans were landing. "Uh," said Starfire, caught off guard.

But Robin raised his fists. "Teen Ti--!"

"Tell your friends we'll be back," Mammoth snarled running past him. "And remember that we never had to call backup to get rid of _you_." Then, he dove into the Bay.

Robin lowered his fists. "What friends?"

"TSEEEEER!" A red-tailed hawk dove from its perch at the top-most edge of the tower, swooped directly over their heads, and disappeared into the night.

Beast Boy stared after it, open-mouthed. "Was that hawk wearing a watch?" he asked.

Starfire looked, quizzically, in the direction it had gone. Then, her eyes grew wide. She ran back into the tower.

"Starfire?" Robin called, soon running after her.

"Hey, what's the hurry?" demanded Cyborg. "We won! I think."

But Starfire did not go to the elevator. She ran, instead, into the command room, where she promptly began summoning security video. In no time, she had isolated out five individuals. A house cat, an osprey, a tiger, and a gorilla all inside and, based on the reactions of the H.A.E.Y.P. team, able to communicate telepathically, plus one red-tailed hawk waiting outside and occasionally glancing at its watch. Three of the four inside, after dispersing the H.A.E.Y.P. team then all hid in corners and shadows out of view, before re-emerging as another osprey, a green anole, and a shrew. The lizard and the shrew were carried out of the building by the osprey while the red-tailed hawk distracted them.

"The Andalites helped us?" asked Raven, surprised.

"These are not Andalites!" said Starfire. "But it is the Andalite morphing technology. They are going into the hidden places to change because they have to demorph to their original forms first, which they are trying to keep secret."

"Why would they keep that secret?" said Robin. "If it's Andalite technology, and they're normally fighting Yeerks, then why would--?"

"This one!" she cried, jabbing a finger at a screen showing the hawk. "He keeps checking the-- you called it a watch device?"

"Well, really just a--"

"The only reason why they would need a time keeper is to make certain that they do not come to the limit," she said, her voice getting louder and squeakier. Tears were brimming in her eyes. "Andalite morphing technology only lasts approximately two hours. If you do not demorph in this time, then you are this animal forever."

Robin frowned. "Okay, that proves it's Andalite tech, but--"

"ANDALITES CAN KEEP TIME!" she shrieked. "This technology would not be so wide-spread among them if it required a watch device for their own safety! Therefore, these are not Andalites! These are the children that Superman asked about! Prince Elfangor broke the Andalite laws! They have never shared any of the technology since creating the Kandrona pools for u-- for the Yeerks. And Andalites are too proud to rely this heavily on morphs!"

"Starfire, it's going to be okay," Robin said, reaching out to touch her shoulder.

"It is not!" she cried, horrified. "You do not understand! No human here would already know the details of this war! Why would he give the forbidden technology to them but then not even hardly speak to us? Because Tamaran already knows this war, but the Earth children do not. He created soldiers from ignorance! They do not know what they are doing, what is happening. Not fully! He has strapped them with weapons and thrown them into the fray! We must stop them before they hurt someone! We must stop them before they are killed!"


End file.
